


Pokémon Reset Bloodlines Sidestory - Katie Gaiden

by FoxBluereaver



Series: Pokémon Reset Bloodlines [92]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Ruby & Sapphire & Emerald | Pokemon Ruby Sapphire Emerald Versions
Genre: Friendly Rivalry, Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, Pokemon League, Rivalry, Tournaments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:16:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24588961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoxBluereaver/pseuds/FoxBluereaver
Summary: It's the first Pokémon League tournament for Katie, and she's determined to win. But more importantly, she's determined to prove herself to her great rival, John Archer. Part of the Pokémon Reset Bloodlines universe. Knowledge of the main story isn't required, but recommended. Written collaboratively by BRANDON369 and yours truly.
Series: Pokémon Reset Bloodlines [92]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/973440
Comments: 4
Kudos: 1





	1. Part I

**_Ever Grande City, Hoenn Pokémon League…_ **

Even though she didn't show it outwardly, Katie was nervous. It was her first League Conference after all, and everyone back at home would have their eyes on her at that very moment.

However, she quickly reminded herself the nickname her family and friends had given her since she became a trainer: 'Cool Beauty'. Thus, she remained composed and kept her smile and calm demeanor.

She had made it through the preliminary rounds, using her Scizor to defeat the Tropius belonging to a trainer from Inua Town called Dominick. But Katie knew the real challenge was up next: the double-battle round.

"The battle between Katie from Lilycove City and Rubrum Navita from LaRousse City is about to begin!" the referee declared. "Each trainer must use two Pokémon without substitutions, and the battle will end when both Pokémon on either side are unable to continue! Choose your Pokémon now!"

Ignoring the large crowd watching her, the Lilycove trainer focused on her opponent. He seemed like a rather tall guy, wearing white pants and a red jacket, his head largely covered by a hoodie. Even though she couldn't make it out due to the distance, his eyes seemed to be of a red color.

Nevertheless, his appearance didn't matter. What really mattered was how strong and skilled the trainer would be. Katie had tried to look up info about him previously, but she didn't find much, other than the fact he had won badges from six of Hoenn's strongest gyms, and had only six registered Pokémon confirmed from official battles. She didn't know if he had more in store, but she could tell that he didn't have a very strategic battling style, instead focusing on a total offensive.

Upon a closer look she also took notice of the Snorunt holding onto his back, though she had no way to know whether he’d use it during this match, or he simply kept it out of its ball out of habit.

"Go! Swellow and Torchic!"

Well, that answered her question. Both Pokémon appeared on the field, and the girl glanced at them to analyze. She actually smiled, feeling somewhat lucky. Torchic was the basic Hoenn Fire-type starter; while it could learn some good attacks, its lack of the Fighting-type made it unable to use them at its full potential. As for Swellow, it was the most common Flying-type in the region, and she had fought her fair share of those along her journey. Perhaps its speed could give her some trouble, but nothing she couldn't handle.

The guy was probably saving his strongest Pokémon for the next rounds. Too bad for him, as Katie wouldn’t do the same, and she had the perfect team to defeat those two.

"Go, Golduck and Misdreavus!"

Her two Pokémon appeared as well, battle ready. She had spent the night studying the e-book "Pokémon Showdown", containing diverse strategies on simulated battles against famous trainers all over the world. Katie was sure she would be prepared for anything her opponents could throw at her.

"Wow! That Golduck looks really though!" the boy cried out in excitement. "And what is the other, is it a Ghost-type?!"

Katie smiled again; her opponent seemed very cheerful, but she couldn't go easy on him. Then, the boy pulled out a strange device from his pocket and pointed it at her Pokémon.

“Great, a Pokédex Holder,” she muttered under her breath. If that guy had been picked by Professor Birch, she clearly shouldn't underestimate him.

**"Do I really have to tell you about these Pokémon? For the love of… They’re just a Golduck and a Misdreavus! Have you never really seen either of them?!”**

"C'mon, Dex, please!"

**"Alright, you win. Golduck's a Water-type Pokémon and despite a common misconception, it's _not_ a Psychic-type. As for Misdreavus… it's just a Ghost-type who feeds on humans' fears, not much else to say. There, happy now?"**

"Always so handy, Dex!"

**"Yeah, what would you do without me? Look, I’m not in the mood right now. Call me when you find me a Legendary or something worthwhile, okay?"**

The girl stared at her opponent's Pokédex for a bit, but she couldn't lose her focus. The battle had just begun and she had to concentrate.

"Golduck, Calm Mind! Misdreavus, Confuse Ray!"

Golduck started to focus and closed his eyes, as a psychic energy aura began coating him. Meanwhile, the Ghost-type launched a dark energy wave towards Rubrum's Pokémon.

"Dodge, quick!" the trainer called. Both Pokémon dodged the attack by jumping or flying in opposite directions. "Alright, now counter with Aerial Ace and Slash!"

Swellow flew up and performed a loop to gain momentum, charging in a speedy tackle covered in white energy, while Torchic extended its talons like sharp blades, jumping to attack with them. Katie, for her part, just analyzed her opponent. If his fighting style was pure offensive, her Golduck had the perfect move to counter it.

"Disable!"

Golduck's eyes glowed along with the gem on his forehead, and Torchic's attack was stopped, along with him in midair. However, Swellow's attack did hit, striking Misdreavus and knocking her away. Neither the Ghost nor the trainer seemed concerned, though; it was all part of their plan.

"Focus again Golduck, use Calm Mind."

The girl smiled in satisfaction as she saw her opponent, trying to rethink his strategy after being caught off-guard by the Disable. His Torchic was able to move, but it couldn't use Slash for quite a while. Now, all that Katie awaited was for the boy to take the bait.

"We can still attack while Golduck's meditating! Torchic, Flame Charge! Swellow, Wing Attack!"

"Misdreavus, get in front of Golduck and use Protect!" she countered.

The fire chicken ran coated in a layer of fire at Golduck, while the Water-type continued in his meditating trance. Swellow soon followed with its wings coated in a white light. Misdreavus got in their way and summoned a protective barrier to shield Golduck, repelling both attacks without issue.

"Don't give in, you guys! Charge again, quick!" Rubrum shouted.

Swellow flew again with its wings coated in white, while Torchic did the same while still on fire, faster than before thanks to Flame Charge’s effect. Taking the obvious target, both of them directed their attacks at Misdreavus, just like Katie hoped. This time, Misdreavus couldn't raise the Protect and took both hits, but immediately floated back up.

"Now, Aerial Ace!"

Swellow went for another strike, but Katie didn't do any move. Misdreavus wasn't fit for taking hits, but that single attack would be enough for it to fulfill its purpose. Even if she was struck down by the opponent, she wouldn't lose.

"Destiny Bond!"

Swellow hit Misdreavus while still coated in energy. As expected, the Ghost-type couldn't take the hit and fainted. Rubrum began celebrating, but in that instant his Swellow suddenly became dizzy and fell to the ground as well, unable to continue.

Katie smirked as she returned her Misdreavus. Her strategy had succeeded.

"Swellow! What's wrong, buddy?!"

"Destiny Bond's effect," Katie began to explain. "If my Pokémon goes down after using that move, yours will suffer the same fate."

"Dang, this is bad!" Her rival quickly returned Swellow, and started breathing deeply. "Focus, if you want to win this, you need to calm down."

While Rubrum focused on getting another strategy, Katie smiled in confidence. With Swellow out, Torchic wouldn't stand a chance against a Pokémon with a type advantage, not to mention her Golduck had its special powers boosted thanks to Calm Mind.

Now there was only one thing left to do, and victory would be hers.

"Golduck, Confusion!"

The Water-type Pokémon channeled its psychic powers and Torchic was unable to do anything before being lifted off the ground. Rubrum could only watch helplessly as his Pokémon kicked around in a futile attempt to break free of the Confusion. Her plan had reached its final stage; now it was time to end the battle.

"You have to break free, Torchic!" Rubrum cried.

"Too late," Katie replied. "Hydro Pump!"

As Torchic was still floating helplessly, Golduck launched his powerful water attack. Katie had succeeded; the attack hit head on and there was no way a Fire-type could take it, let alone a starter in its initial stage.

Victory was hers. Torchic lied on the ground and unable to move. The referee approached and upon seeing the downed Fire-type starter all soaked, was about to declare the match over.

"Looks like this is it, Torchic is unable to…"

"Wait a second, look!" Rubrum shouted, pointing at Torchic who still struggled to move. "Torchic, we've faced situations much harder than this! I know you can make it, get back up!"

For a moment, Katie thought she saw a glow in Rubrum's eyes, but she quickly dismissed it. Point was, Torchic was getting back on its feet, as if those words had revived it.

"Torchic can still go on," the referee declared. "The match continues!"

Katie was left with her mouth agape; that was impossible. There was no way that Torchic could have gotten back up. However, there it was, and then a red aura began to flare up around it. She guessed it was simply Blaze triggering, which was bad in itself but it would only get worse.

The flaming aura turned brighter by the second, surrounding the chick completely, and then it let out a sharp, ear-drilling shriek.

"Tor… CHIIIIIIC!"

It literally burst into flames like a small volcano. Katie had never seen a Blaze like that, it wasn't normal. But she quickly regained her cool and began calculating her next move. Even its eyes looked more aggressive than before: it was no longer a small and cute Torchic, but rather a small flaming star that had just exploded.

“Torchic.” Much to Katie’s surprise, Rubrum’s expression showed that he wasn’t happy with the sudden power burst. He even seemed… worried? “Control your energy, remember all the hard work we’ve been doing!”

But the words didn’t seem to reach Torchic. Instead, the chick’s demeanor had turned savage and aggressive, so much that even the Snorunt accompanying Rubrum seemed to get on guard to protect its trainer. Torchic launched a roar to the sky, ignoring its trainer’s pleads, still radiating that mysterious and terrifying power.

Katie was nervous: she was facing something she didn’t anticipate. But quickly regained control to calculate her next move. All she needed was one good shot and she would win.

"Golduck, use Hydro Pump!" she called.

"Torchic, Flame Charge!"

Golduck fired another spiraling torrent at his opponent. Much to Katie’s horror, Torchic dodged it without issue, and rammed Golduck head on using Flame Charge!

How could it gain so much power and speed at once? That was way faster and stronger than a normal Flame Charge would be!

“Torchic! You need to focus! Don’t attack so recklessly!” Rubrum continued to plead to his Pokémon, but the latter just turned around to give him a threatening glare, causing him to cringe.

Even so, the fact that it dodged the last attack just made her realize that Pokémon was not invincible. All she had to do was connect another Hydro Pump and the battle would be over. She just needed to calculate the best timing to make her move.

She’d go back to her former strategy; she’d restrain Torchic and then finish it off with their best attack.

“Use Con-” Her command was interrupted when Torchic once more charged at incredible speed.

Golduck opened his bill and eyes at maximum when the small chick rammed him full-body in his stomach, knocking the air out of it. The duck was barely regaining its breath when he saw Torchic stood there, the flames surrounding it growing stronger by the second.

"Watch out!” Rubrum shouted at Katie. “Torchic’s about to use Overheat!"

"Overheat?!" Katie gasped as her eyes widened in shock. How could that small Pokémon have such a powerful move?

And while Torchic readied to fire, her mind drew a blank, confused and not knowing what to do. Should she try Hydro Pump to counter it? Or maybe deflect it with Psychic? Or perhaps just using Disable? Yes, maybe Disable would work…

"Golduck, use…!"

Sadly, Katie didn't get to finish her command. Wasting so much time in thinking about the counterattack, the fiery stream, boosted by that abnormal Blaze, quickly engulfed her Pokémon. Such an attack at point-blank range would be devastating no matter the type advantage.

For a minute, Katie was left dumbfounded, unable to process what had just happened. At least, until the crowd’s cheers snapped her out of it.

Golduck was still standing! He was scorched and smoldering, and he clearly couldn’t take it much longer, but he was standing, much to her surprise and relief.

Seeing how Torchic prepared to charge against her Pokémon once more, Katie knew it was time to end the battle. It was now or never if she wanted to win this match.

“Golduck, use Disable!” she called without hesitation.

Fortunately, this time around the move worked, stopping the attack before it could finish, and leaving the unusually fiery chick completely helpless in front of Golduck.

“Golduck, Hydro Pump at full power!”

The battle was sealed then and there. Not even that Torchic could withstand that water torrent at point-blank range. Immediately afterwards, Rubrum and his Snorunt ran into the field, worried for Torchic, and the trainer picked it up in his arms, as the referee announced the result.

"Torchic is unable to battle. The winner of the match is Katie!"

“What a battle, ladies and gentlemen! That’s what I call a surprise comeback!”

As the crowd cheered in excitement, Katie quickly returned her Pokémon before his burns could get any worse, while she congratulated him for a job well done. In other circumstances she’d be happy for her victory, but for now, she was too shocked for that.

Sure, she had won, but she had almost lost, and to a small Torchic of all things. Her participation in the Hoenn League had almost come to an abrupt end, just because her mind was left on a blank briefly.

All because of that unexpectedly powerful Blaze. Her whole strategy crumbled before that unexpected power boost.

“What was that? How can a Blaze ability be that powerful?”

For a moment during the match, she’d even accepted defeat. Her mind was left a blank and because of that, her Golduck had taken an Overheat to the face. If he hadn’t endured… no, even though they’d won, the prize for the victory was too high. Her Pokémon got too hurt in the process.

All because of a mistake she made. What just happened? How could it be? Why did she freeze up?

The result of the match had left her with a few questions in her head. Fortunately, she knew the right person who might have the answers.

* * *

**_Pokémon Center, later…_ **

Thankfully, Nurse Joy told her that Golduck would recover completely, though he wouldn’t be able to take part in tomorrow’s match.

While her Pokémon was being treated, Katie was at the Pokémon Center’s lobby, specifically in front of one of many public videophones. There was someone she needed to talk about her last match, and hopefully, she’d give her the answers she needed.

“Well, well, if it isn’t one of my former star students. Good to see you again, Katie.”

On the phone’s screen there was a young woman in her twenties, with dark brown hair in two buns and two pigtails held by a pink bow.

“I’m glad to see you too, Roxanne,” she greeted back.

Roxanne was the Rustboro Gym Leader, and her former teacher when she attended the Rustboro Trainer School. She was happy to have made good friends with her during her tenure at school (to the point were now on a first-name basis), and even helped her a lot when she took the Battle extra class. Not only she’d come to respect her enough to challenge her for her final badge, but whenever she had questions or doubts, she’d always be willing to hear her out and offer an answer.

And today was one of those times.

“I saw your match, by the way. Congratulations on making it to the next round. It was a tough battle, but I liked the way you used Disable.”

Katie appreciated that her former teacher was happy for her, though she quickly seemed to notice that she herself wasn’t sharing Roxanne’s joy for the victory.

“What’s wrong, Katie? That’s not the expression of someone who’s just won a Hoenn League match.”

Katie sighed and proceeded to explain. “I’m not sure what happened. When that Torchic went… I still don’t know what it did. But I felt overwhelmed, Roxanne. The nerves got the best of me, I froze up and Golduck paid dearly for it.”

“Oh, so you mean when its Hyper Blaze triggered…”

“Hyper Blaze?” a confused Katie asked. “What’s that?”

“Hyper Abilities are variants of power boosting abilities, like Blaze, Torrent or Overgrowth,” Roxanne explained. “They’re very rare occurrences; more powerful than normal, but also harder to control, since they can make the Pokémon go erratic and violent. It takes a lot of training to properly master them, but once it’s done, the payoff is worth it.”

Katie nodded, as she recalled how the small chick had gone rogue during the battle. “No kidding. That guy clearly needs to work with his Torchic. I guess I was lucky enough that they couldn’t fully control it yet. I’d never seen anything like that before.”

At least now that unusual power boost had a name. Good to know, that way it wouldn’t surprise her a second time if she ever encountered a similar one in the future.

The two remained silent for a bit, until Roxanne finally spoke up again.

“Katie, do you remember when you won your graduation match?”

How could she forget it? It was one of her most important days of her life. At the time, she was so nervous that she stayed up studying and barely got any sleep. It was just her and her little Spheal.

Despite everything, she ultimately did well, and she proved that she didn’t only knew the theory. She knew how to put it to use in practice before going out to face the world. She approved with flying colors, after all.

“Do you also remember the advice I gave you afterwards?” Roxanne continued. “You shouldn’t just conform to what you learned at school. In the real world there’s more than knowledge for the battles. You need to keep learning and experience new things.”

“I know, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing,” Katie replied. In a way, that advice was Roxanne’s graduation gift for her, and she’d done her best to take it to heart.

Soon enough, she learned how big the outside world was, and came to realize how her current knowledge was not enough. That was why she always did her best to prepare, studying her opponents and preparing strategies to counter them.

Though looking back now…

…

_Suddenly, she saw herself during her final match, in the school training arena. While the final grades would be determined by performance rather than results, a victory would definitely net her a higher score._

_Her opponent was a bespectacled, blue-haired young man. His name was Clark, and his peers had nicknamed him ‘The Conductor’ due to his knack for directing his Pokémon in battle using a baton, like an orchestra._

_Rather quirky, she thought, but it was effective right now. Before her Spheal could even make a move, Clark waved his baton while instructing his Cyndaquil to use Quick Attack. The Fire-type vanished for a split second and then quickly reappeared in front of Spheal to ram him._

_“A perfect note, sure to have caught the audience’s ears! Your Spheal might have greater endurance than Cyndaquil, Katie, but it’s too slow to land any attacks.”_

_Clark seemed to assume he’d already won. Katie was frustrated, but as much as she hated to admit it, he had a point. Cyndaquil was a speedy Pokémon, while Spheal couldn’t move freely unless he was on water. Besides, type advantage meant squat when they didn’t have any Water-type moves._

_If they just could land one good hit, move fast enough to…_

_“Fast… that’s it! Spheal, roll!”_

_Katie’s Pokémon smirked, before curling up into a ball and start rolling around the field. He began picking up speed as he rolled describing circles around Cyndaquil. That was a natural ability of his species: Spheal were usually slow on land, but that changed whenever they started rolling around._

_“Who were you calling slow, now?” Katie smirked as she formed a plan in her mind. It was time for the Cool Beauty to defeat the Conductor._

_“This bitter note will not ruin our concerto! Finish them, Cyndaquil!”_

_In their attempt to keep up with Spheal’s new speed, the Fire-type once more charged with Quick Attack, once more overtaking them in speed. Just like Katie hoped they would._

_“Ice Ball!”_

_Right when Cyndaquil was about to ram him, Spheal stopped dead in his tracks, forming an ice sphere in his maw. The Fire-type starter ended up crashing against it head on, unable to brake in time._

_“No!” she heard Clark shout, but it was too late. The match was sealed._

_The Ice Ball then shattered to pieces, and Clark was left frozen when his Pokémon was knocked back and slumped motionless on the ground._

_“Cyndaquil is unable to battle! Spheal wins!” the referee announced._

...

“Come to think about it… what happened to me today must have happened to Clark that day, right?”

“I see you realized now.” Her former teacher smiled at her. “Clark had prepared a good strategy and was certain that he would beat you. He got confident thinking he was victorious, but you surprised him and won in the end.”

“I… when I defeated that Swellow, I thought I had won already. I never expected Torchic to turn the tide around.”

“And that’s what makes Pokémon battles so interesting, Katie. You can never be certain of what could happen, the abilities, strategies or even the trainers’ creativity. All of that results in surprises, you can’t anticipate to everything.”

“But I investigated about Rubrum, I thought…”

“Katie, it’s good to be prepared against your opponents. But you shouldn’t get too cocky just because of that advantage. Pokémon battles can turn around in the blink of an eye,” Roxanne explained.

Katie was left pondering for a bit. It was frustrating; she had a strategy ready, but the moment that Torchic got back up, her plans crumbled and she didn’t know what to do. She seemed to understand what Roxanne was trying to get at.

“You’re always bound to be surprised in a match, Katie. But never let your confidence crumble if one of your strategies fails. There’s a big difference between theory and practice. You will encounter all kinds of trainers who will surprise you in different ways, and you’ll earn experience from all of them. Learn from those battles and you’ll overcome the blocks.”

“Yeah, I understand now.” The trainer finally smiled again. “Thanks, that’s just what I needed to hear.”

“Don’t worry, whenever you need some advice, I’m just a call away,” Roxanne replied. “Okay, I have to go prepare my class for tomorrow. Good luck in the rest of the tournament, by the way.”

After bidding goodbye, Katie hung up and went out for a walk to think clearly. The League had just begun, but she couldn’t get any careless. She’d take her former teacher’s advice and learn from this battle, while also focusing on the upcoming matches.

She’d have to take note of those Hyper Abilities from now on. She’d underestimated her opponent upon seeing that Torchic, never considering the possibility of it having an ace in the hole, which almost costed her the match. She’d be more careful from now on.

On the bright side, she now had a full grasp of what happened. She always tried to be as cautious as possible, to investigate her opponents and prepare strategies to counter them. And in this case, her opponent wasn’t exactly a strategist himself, and didn’t use species known by their sheer power.

 _‘But he was this close to beating me,’_ she thought. For a moment, she wondered whether she should have, on precaution, sent her Sealeo, her strongest Pokémon. Maybe that would have made the victory easier…

She quickly shook her head. Had they lost, it would have been neither Golduck nor Misdreavus’ fault. They did an excellent work. Responsibility for the result was hers alone: she hit a block when her Pokémon needed her the most, and that almost costed them the match.

It was time to think of new strategies, as she had to keep going in the Hoenn League. Her next opponent had probably been decided already, so she’d better investigate them to create a strategy. She’d use her battle against Rubrum as a learning experience, and she wouldn’t freeze mid-battle ever again.

Right then, she saw a familiar figure across the street, walking alongside a majestic Gardevoir. She smiled; since the competition had started she’d hoped to run into him, but never got the chance.

In fact, hadn’t she seen his matches, she could probably have some doubts on whether he’d qualified or not.

“Obviously, there was no way he’d be left out,” she said as she raised a hand. “Hey, John!”

He turned around, and replied in kind, so she quickly approached him. John Archer was a trainer about the same age as Katie, rather tall and with dark hair, red eyes and a pair of Z-shaped marks on the cheeks. They had crossed paths a few times during the journey, and she considered her one of her main rivals to beat.

“Katie, hi,” he greeted her with a kind smile. “I just saw your match, congratulations.”

“Same to you,” she replied, folding her arms. “You’ve done pretty well yourself. Of course, I wouldn’t expect any less from my great rival.”

John sighed. “You’re still bent on that? I’d rather be just friends with you instead of rivals.”

“We _are_ friends, John,” Katie cleared up. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t have a healthy competition, does it?”

Katie saw how John simply shrugged, as if trying to evade the issue. She first met him at Petalburg Woods, when both were starting their journeys and John was being chased by a wild Taillow flock, which she drove away. At the time, she thought he was a frail-looking boy, which probably prompted her to intervene.

Since then, they had encountered each other a few times across Hoenn, to the point they became good friends. And every time they met, John made a notable progress, to the point she’d find it hard to believe that he, the same kind, frail-looking boy she saved that day, could have gotten so strong in such a short time.

“Hey, since the battles are over for today, we still have some free time,” John said. “How about we go for something to eat? The guide says there’s a lot of gourmet restaurants close to the stadium.”

“Always thinking with your stomach, aren’t you?” Katie let out a small giggle. John had an unusual appetite for someone so slim. “Well, I wouldn’t mind some good spaghetti with Tamato sauce.”

“I know the right place. It’s your favorite food, isn’t it?”

“You got that right,” she replied. “Well, you got me then. I think it’ll be a good chance for us to get up to speed. I want to know what you’ve done since the last time we met.”

There was no way to refuse. The league trainers could eat for free, and with John’s appetite, it’d take a while for him to finish his meal, so they could chat aplenty while doing so.

* * *

**_Later…_ **

After such an intense battle, and being on the edge of defeat, a good meal seemed the best way to lift the mood. It also helped clear her mind and get ready for the next round match, and at the same time, she and John could catch up.

Although Katie was satisfied after two big spaghetti plates, John still seemed to have room for more. The boy could seemingly eat the equivalent of everything his team would consume in a single course, and considering that right now he had them all out of their balls, she was certain that her estimation was close to reality.

Not that she was bothered by their presence, but there were inconveniences to that habit of his, aside from the obvious looks they were drawing.

“Hey John,” she suddenly said. “You think it’s a good idea to have all your team out like that?”

“What’s wrong with it? My friends are hungry.”

“I know, but aren’t you worried one of your future opponents could be watching? They’ll have an edge by knowing of them.”

“Like you now?” he said. Strangely enough, he wasn’t being sarcastic.

Katie simply shrugged, thinking he probably had a point. Even in the restaurant it wasn’t unseen that trainers would decide to eat along with their Pokémon, even if they didn’t have their full teams at once.

“I’d rather keep my friends close, Katie. And if they’re good with it, that’s all what matters.”

“I guess you’re right on that.” Katie grabbed one of her own Pokéballs, letting Sealeo out so he could eat with her. She hadn’t used him in combat yet, but keeping him well fed was important for his performance once his turn came.

“Hey, is it me, or your Sealeo looks bigger now than last time?” John asked.

“It’s not you.” Katie smiled with a hint of pride, as she patted her first Pokémon’s head with affection.

“He’s probably very close to evolving,” John said. “He’ll be a very powerful Walrein when he does.”

Katie nodded. It seemed like almost yesterday when he was just a little Spheal and she could carry him in her arms. It was unbelievable how big and strong he’d grown, and she was very proud of him.

After remaining silent for a while, John ordered another course. His Gardevoir looked at him with disapproval, and judging by the glow in her eyes, she was probably mentally scolding him for eating that much.

Katie knew Gardevoir was John’s first Pokémon, so they were probably as close or more so than she and Sealeo. He too had yet to use her during the tournament, so he probably was saving her for the next rounds.

“So tell me, what will you do in tomorrow’s match?” Katie asked. “Do you plan on using Gardevoir?”

“Well…” John simply shrugged. Even without completing the sentence, Katie could see in his face that he probably hadn’t even considered it.

“Come on, John, you need to prepare better for your matches,” she said. “Especially now, the opponents are bound to get tougher every time. I’d hate it if you were defeated before we can have our match. You haven’t forgotten, right? Our promise.”

“Of course not,” he assured, although he seemingly didn’t give too much importance and continued to eat as if trying to evade the issue.

Katie shook her head and sighed again. Sometimes she wondered what could have happened to him, hadn’t she saved him that day. John was a nice and kind boy, perhaps too much, to the point he seemed to need someone to take care of him.

…

_It was a long trip from Lilycove, and it took her a bit to decide her route. What she did have clear, though, was who she would challenge for her final badge, and so she told Roxanne when she stopped by the school for a visit._

_Thus she began her walk to her first destination: Petalburg Gym. She knew it was one of Hoenn’s top-ranked gyms, so she figured it’d be as good place as any to begin her challenge. But to get there, she’d have to go through Petalburg Woods first._

_She knew that place was inhabited by a particularly territorial Taillow flock, one that wasn’t usually happy with chasing out their enemies. Sometimes they would pursue them to the forest’s edges or beyond. Although she was certain that Spheal was capable of driving them away if necessary, she still decided to walk cautiously, just in case she’d run into one of them._

_After turning around for a bit, she heard wing flapping, along with squawking and peck noises not too far away. As she came closer she could identify them, and it didn’t take long to deduce what happened. The aforementioned flock had most likely stumbled upon somebody else._

_From that distance, she could see the person being attacked was holding a Ralts in their arms, trying to protect it from the birds._

_“Spheal, use Ice Ball!” she said as she threw her Pokéball._

_Spheal appeared instantly, throwing a huge chunk of ice to bring down the apparent flock leader. The birds then turned their attention to her, and then another ball, bigger than the first, took down a couple more._

_Now she had their attention, the victim looked at them, and Katie knew it was time for them to move out._

_“Hurry, run! We need to get out of here!”_

_The boy, as she could see, didn’t wait for a second call, and immediately ran past them. Spheal fired a third Ice Ball that shattered into multiple pieces, taking out several birds and giving them the opening to run away._

_They hid behind some bushels, and once they couldn’t hear any more flapping or squawking, Katie went out to check if the danger was over. She then called out to the boy._

_“The coast is clear. You guys okay?”_

_It was then she could take a better look at her. The boy was wearing a black and blue jacket with a yellow collar, black pants with a yellow trim around the ankles, and a pair of matching sneakers. He was quite tall, even more than her, with black hair, red eyes with a strange glow about them, and Z-shaped marks on his cheeks._

_“Yeah, we’re okay. Thank you, you saved our lives. My name’s John, by the way. John Archer.”_

_“I’m Katie, and you’re welcome,” she introduced herself, shrugging. “What happened exactly? Why were those Taillow attacking you?”_

_“I’m not sure. I just found one of them on the ground. It had an injured wing and I tried to help it, but then it shrieked and…”_

_“You don’t need to say more,” she intervened. “Even if you mean well, sometimes an injured wild Pokémon is more dangerous than a healthy one. Especially if it calls its friends like that.”_

_“It’s a pity. I thought maybe I could become friends with them.”_

_Katie wondered who’d like to be friends with a flock of savage birds, but then again, trainers could be all kinds of people, as different as Pokémon themselves._

_“By the way, do you know how to get to Rustboro City?” John asked after a while._

_Katie raised an eyebrow. “You’re planning to take on the Gym Leader?” When John nodded, she added, “How many badges do you have?”_

_“This would be the first.”_

_Katie placed her hands on her hips, before looking at John from head to toe. His rather impressive height aside, John and his Ralts didn’t seem particularly intimidating or strong. In fact, he looked rather fragile, both physically and emotionally._

_That and the fact that he ran away from the Taillow rather than at least try and face them. Someone like him would have no chance whatsoever against Roxanne._

_“Before that, how about a little sparring match with me?” she suggested. “Just to see if you’re ready?”_

_“A match? I don’t mind, but here? And now?”_

_“What? No, of course not. Come on, we better find a safer place, just in case those birds come back.”_

_She’d have to backtrack just a bit, but it’d be a small price for giving the boy a hand. Besides, she could also use the experience._

…

That sparring match didn’t last much, but John and Ralts had come a long way since then. Perhaps that loss had given them the push to become stronger, as she could attest for every one of their subsequent encounters with each other.

But alongside the rivalry, friendship bloomed between them. John seemed like a rather naïve person, but he was very kind, and in every encounter he became considerably stronger. That was the reason she always looked forward for the next time their paths crossed.

And now they were at the League, she couldn’t wait to see what new tricks John’s Pokémon had learned. She had prepared many strategies specifically to counter each one of the members of his team, and she was determined to win.

However, when she was about to take a drink and finish her meal, she noticed something weird: the glass in her hand was much colder, and the liquid inside had been completely frozen. Katie almost turned to scold Sealeo, but quickly realized he wasn’t responsible.

“Snow!”

“Hey, who’s that Pokémon?” John asked.

A small, black Pokémon with blue eyes and covered in yellow hood of sorts, was happily dancing over their table. Katie recognized it as a Snorunt, having read about it in a few books.

“Hey, little buddy,” John greeted.

The Snorunt simply giggled and blew a small blizzard at his face, covering it in frost. Gardevoir and Ninjask almost jumped, seemingly ready to fight the little Snorunt.

“Hey Snorunt!” a voice called out. “I’ve told you plenty of times, no pranks on strangers!”

That voice sounded familiar to Katie… no, could it be him…

“Sorry, you guys! My Snorunt loves pranking people, though sometimes she goes a little overboard!”

Yes, it was. That tall boy with the red hoodie was unmistakable. Katie placed a hand on her temple and shook her head. What were the odds?

The boy lifted the Snorunt off the table and held it in his arms, while saying “Bad, bad, very bad! You can’t do that!” as he wiggled his finger around. Meanwhile, Snorunt seemed to just giggle at the whole thing.

“I’m really sorry, I hope she didn’t cause you any trouble,” the trainer apologized once more.

“Don’t worry, my friend. Truth be told, it was a bit hot in here,” John replied with a chuckle, as he removed the frost off his face. “My name’s John Archer, by the way.”

“Your name was… Rubrum, right?” Katie asked.

“Yep, that’s me! Oh, and you’re Katie, right?! I’m glad I found you, that battle was incredible!”

“Yeah, in a way, it was.” Katie decided to keep her composure and force a smile. ‘Incredible’ was a way to describe it, although for both the context was probably not the same.

Rubrum seemed to realize what she was thinking, as his cheerful expression dimmed down a bit while he continued.

“Sorry ‘bout what happened in the match.” He scratched the back of his head. “I found out my Torchic has a very powerful Blaze, but he seems to lose it whenever it triggers. I’m glad you stopped him; I would have felt bad winning like that.”

“I can see you’ve trained him well,” Katie said with a stern tone. “Although using him when he can’t control that kind of power… that was reckless of you, I must say.”

“Like I said, sorry ‘bout that,” Rubrum apologized again. “I’m gonna work hard until we get that Blaze under control. But other than that, the League was lots of fun, so I have no regrets.” He then turned to John. “You’re still in the competition too, right?”

“Yes I am.” John nodded.

“Haha, well then, Johnny-bro, if you and Katie can do me a favor, win the next rounds for me, will ya?” He then raised his hand for a high-five.

Katie hesitated, but figured it wouldn’t hurt and accepted it. John followed suit, though for a split second as their hands made contact, she could have sworn she saw a small glow in John’s eyes.

The same she recalled from the first time they met. Was she imagining things?

“Do you want to sit with us?” John invited. “If Katie doesn’t mind, of course.”

“At all.” She moved away to make room for him. If John wanted to make a new friend, who was she to deny it?

“Thanks!” The boy in the red hoodie sat next to them, as his Snorunt hopped onto his head. “I like you, bro! Are these your Pokémon? They look awesome!”

“Well, not all of them are mine,” John cleared up. “The Sealeo belongs to Katie.”

Truth be told, Katie felt a little uncomfortable that John had invited that boy who, she thought, was a bit irresponsible, for bringing to the League a Pokémon that lost control. But John was that kind of person: kind and friendly to everyone. She could swear he’d probably give an olive branch to a Draconid who’d probably sic a hungry Salamence to devour him.

On the other hand, out of that little mishap Rubrum didn’t seem an unpleasant guy. Katie decided to not to hold any grudges over the fact that he almost beat her. That would be almost as bad as being a sore loser.

Much to her surprise, Rubrum pulled out his Pokédex and began pointing it to every Pokémon around.

“Hey Dex! Check out these awesome Pokémon!”

 **“Now what? You probably just want data of some common creature that… is that a Gardevoir?!** **At long last you did something right, human! Put me closer, I want every possible data of a rare Pokémon like that!”**

“I didn’t know Pokédexes could have that kind of personality,” the girl commented.

“Yeah, my Dex is quite the character,” Rubrum said with some pride.

“Hey Katie, what’s a Pokédex?” John asked.

“Don’t you know? It’s a tool given by Professor Birch to potentially exceptional trainers, along with a Starter Pokémon,” Katie explained. “I assume you got your Torchic along with it?”

“Haha, actually, no.” Rubrum scratched the back of his head. “My first Pokémon is actually little Snorunt here, and Professor Birch gave me a Treecko. I caught Torchic in the wild a few months back.”

“That was… very lucky for you, wasn’t it?” Katie said. Starter Pokémon were hard to find in the wild, and even more with Hyper abilities, if what Roxanne told her was true.

**“Yeah, this human’s been very lucky, but luck eventually runs out. Like it did in the last match. You can’t say I warned you, can you?”**

Katie had never seen a Pokédex from up close, and although she acknowledged the advantages of such a device, from the little she’d seen of Rubrum’s Pokédex, she thought it had the personality of an idiot. John’s Gardevoir for her part seemed uncomfortable with the device scanning her, and Katie couldn’t blame her.

As the conversation continued, Rubrum and John seemed to click very well with each other, despite their opposite personalities. Maybe it helped that both shared a voracious appetite; when Rubrum’s order came to the table, Katie could attest that it was about probably as big, if not bigger, than John’s.

If she didn’t know better, and seeing them up close, she could have believed they were brothers. She had to admit it made her feel a little bit jealous.

She wasn’t particularly good at socializing with people. The moniker “Cool Beauty” came in part because she was someone who liked to keep her distance. Not that she hated being close to others; she simply wasn’t one to take the initiative, unless they found some common ground to talk about.

And one of those few areas was Pokémon Training, so she found it easier to make friends through rivalry and competition rather than trying John’s approach.

“Ah, that was delicious!” Rubrum exclaimed while rubbing his now full belly. “Well, it was a pleasure to chat with you guys, but I have to jet back to the Pokémon Center! Catch ya later, gang!”

“Hey, wait!” Katie called out, but Rubrum ran off out of the place, followed by his Snorunt waving them goodbye with her tiny arms.

John and Katie remained seated, a bit confused about what just happened. That boy seemed quite full of energy, so much that he couldn’t seem to stay in a single place for too long.

“I believe we should go after him,” Katie said.

“Why?”

“He forgot this.” She picked up the Pokédex.

**“Hey, you stupid human! Don’t you see how valuable I am?! How can you drop me off like this?!”**

The device continued to rant nonstop about being abandoned by its trainer. The girl wondered how someone so easily distracted could have gotten one of them, but after that battle, he clearly showed some hidden potential. She gestured to John to follow her, and together they went out after Rubrum to give it back so it would shut up.

The tournament was bound to be full of very interesting opponents.

**_To be continued…_ **


	2. Part II

**_Ever Grande City…_ **

The sun had arisen for a new day of the Hoenn Pokémon League Conference. The competition was still on, and Katie felt she was one step closer to her goal.

However, at the moment Katie wasn’t a competitor, but a spectator. Since her match was scheduled for a later hour at a different stadium, she had the chance to watch John’s, so as to root for him and, at the same time, analyze his strategies to know what to expect of him when they faced each other.

This was the last round of double battles before the Victory Tournament, where trainers would show their true strength in full six-on-six matches.

“Come on, John, you can’t lose now,” she muttered, her eyes fixated on the battlefield.

The battle had gone pretty even so far: John was using his Ninjask and Shedinja, while his opponent, a Bug-type specialist, was using a Volbeat and Illumise duo. At first, John’s strategy was focused on using Shedinja as a shield, thanks to its Wonder Guard ability, while Ninjask’s Speed Boost continuously activated, enabling it to do lightning-fast attacks, before their opponents could counter.

And it worked well, until the opposing trainer ordered an electric attack that turned out to be Thunder Wave, paralyzing Shedinja, and then throwing a Confuse Ray into the mix. The Ghost/Bug-type in its confusion ended up charging against the ground and knocking itself out, leaving John in a two-against-one disadvantage.

“Time to end this!” the opponent shouted. “Volbeat, Illumise, show them your Dazzling Gleam combo!”

“Ninjask, my friend, dodge them with Dig!”

Although Ninjask managed to get underground, dodging both rainbow-colored spheres from his foes, Volbeat quickly forced him out with a Bug Buzz, aiming directly to the hole he dug to maximize its effect. To make it worse, before John could order something, Illumise threw in an Encore, forcing Ninjask in an endless loop of going underground, and then forced back up because of the Bug Buzz.

“Oh, things are looking bleak for John Archer, ladies and gentlemen!” the MC exclaimed. “If he doesn’t find the way to break the cycle, his defeat is good as sealed!”

Katie bit her lip. John couldn’t lose, not that way. Not before they had their rematch as they promised.

“Come on, John. We both know you can get through this.”

Somehow, Ninjask endured until the Encore effect vanished, and John’s opponent seemed to be celebrating his victory. But as Roxanne had told her, Pokémon battles could always turn around in the blink of an eye.

“Finish him, Volbeat, Aerial Ace!” the opponent shouted.

“Ninjask, Return!” John countered.

The call for said attack caught Katie by surprise, as she knew John’s Ninjask did not have it in their last match. However, she was more surprised that said attack, once Ninjask flew faster than a speeding bullet, intercepted Volbeat’s Aerial Ace head on, and then sent him crashing against the opposite wall, falling unconscious.

“The hell?”

“Return, once more!”

And before the other trainer could process what happened, John’s Ninjask had charged against his other Pokémon. Illumise was sent flying through the air, crashing on the same wall just inches away from her partner, thus sealing the match.

“Both Volbeat and Illumise are unable to continue! The winner of this match is John Archer!”

“And a single blow turns the tide around for John Archer, who moves forward to the victory tournament! Return is an attack whose power is based on how much a Pokémon loves its trainer, and very few times I’ve seen one as powerful as that one! That was the power of friendship in action, ladies and gentlemen!”

 _‘You said it, Mr. Commentator,’_ Katie thought. Certainly, that Retribution attack had been really powerful, but considering how much John loved his Pokémon, she couldn’t expect any less.

…

Katie waited for John at the stadium’s exit tunnel. It seemed only fair to congratulate him as due, after that amazing recovery when he was against the ropes.

“Way to go, champ,” she said, giving him a playful nudge on the shoulder. “I have to admit it, you almost made me doubt you for a second.”

“I just had a bit of luck,” John replied with modesty. “Ninjask and I barely managed to perfect that move before the League started.”

“That wasn’t luck,” Katie said. “If you think about it, being so good friends with your Pokémon gave you the strength you needed to win today. And the Speed Boost definitely helped too, don’t deny it.”

“Always thinking in strategic terms, isn’t that right, Katie?”

The Lilycove trainer placed her hands on her hips. Why did he say it as if it was something bad? She was trying to compliment his performance, yet he didn’t seem to take her comments that way.

“Well, in case you’re interested, my battle will be in a couple hours, at the B Stadium,” she said. “You’ll come to see me, won’t you?”

“Of course,” John assured. “I’ll just go to the Pokémon Center first. I have to take care of my friends before all.”

“As every good trainer should do,” Katie said, making way for him. “Go ahead, I won’t distract you anymore.”

As John walked away with no rush, Katie once more looked back to their past encounters. Ironically, back when they first met she didn’t hold him in too high esteem. In fact, she recalled having gotten mad for thinking he didn’t take his training seriously, as he often said “I prefer to win friends over victories”. She let out a small giggle upon recalling the amount of lectures she gave him just for that statement.

On the other hand, she admitted that friendly disposition of his was nice too. She just thought sometimes he could be just a little… tougher, and have a bit more of a backbone, if that made sense.

Every time they met, John would always surprise her. Not only did he become a powerful trainer, someone to be reckoned with and whom she respected deeply. It was also the fact that, without noticing, she started feeling more comfortable around him, regarding him as a trusted friend.

When did she exactly stop seeing him as that helpless boy who needed rescuing, to see him as a close friend? Was it since that time they teamed up to fight that self-proclaimed Melon Master girl? Was it maybe since John managed to draw with her, showing himself as a rival not to be underestimated? Or maybe she just had gotten used to chat with him?

Katie didn’t know the answer, and truth be told, she didn’t care. All she knew was that the idea to face him in the Pokémon League made her feel excited. The moment for that fated battle drew closer every time, and she was only one double battle away from the Victory Tournament.

With the amount of participants reduced by the time, the chances of them facing each other in a full battle increased. By that time, she’d give it her all to defeat him and break the tie. As they promised each other back in Fortree City.

_‘You just wait, John. I’ll face you with everything I’ve got. But first, I have to win my next match.’_

* * *

**_C Stadium…_ **

“We’re about to start the next match for the Qualification Tournament! Each trainer can only use two Pokémon, and the winner will be decided when both Pokémon of either side are unable to keep battling!”

While she wasn’t as nervous as in her previous match, Katie had to take a deep breath to focus, as the announcer once more explained the battle rules. Unlike her, though, her opponent seemed to smile without a hint of nervousness, and even seemed to be dancing a little bit.

From what she searched, the girl she was about to face was named Phoebe. She looked around the same age as her, maybe a couple years above, with dark skin and brown, short spiky hair adorned with large pink flowers. She wore a rather revealing attire; a two-piece blue dress with a strapless bra, which showed off her figure, and Katie could see she didn’t wear shoes, only a pink anklet on her left foot.

Apparently she’d been born in Hoenn, but had lived a lot in Alola, which explained her choice in clothing. What mattered for this match, though, was that so far every Pokémon she had shown was of the Ghost-type, no exceptions.

 _‘Meaning that she’s a specialist,’_ she thought. That was a more common occurrence than everyone thought, and even though having only Ghosts in her arsenal could be seen as a weakness, that wasn’t necessarily true.

Regardless, however, Katie had prepared a strategy to defeat any Ghost-type she encountered, and she was going to use it here.

“Begin!” the referee declared.

“I choose Venomoth and Scizor!”

She glanced at both of her Bug-types on the field. Some would consider them an unusual choice, but she had a plan with them. Venomoth was her usual choice when battling unknown foes, and he was very useful against opponents with high defenses and low speed. That way, she’d be ready to counter any Dusclops her opponent could throw at her, including status ailments. And if that wasn’t enough, she also had Scizor, one of her main attackers.

She had everything covered, although her opponent didn’t seem intimidated by the bugs, and still smiled at her like she didn’t have a care in the world. In fact, why hadn’t she chosen her Pokémon yet?

“Hey, it’s your turn to bring out your Pokémon,” Katie complained.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. But my Pokémon are already on the battlefield.”

Upon saying those words, two Ghost-types quickly revealed themselves before Scizor and Venomoth. For a moment, Katie was startled by their sudden appearance, though she immediately scolded herself, recalling that Ghost Pokémon had the ability to become invisible or hide among the shadows

Nevertheless, she was surprised at Phoebe’s choices. She was waiting for a Dusclops, Gengar or even Misdreavus, which were more popular choices among Ghost-type specialists. Instead, her opponent brought out a Pokémon looking like a cursed doll, which she quickly identified as a Banette, and… a small living candle?

 _‘What’s that supposed to be?’_ Katie wondered. It was a Pokémon Katie had never seen or heard of before. Still, the candle appearance suggested that it was probably a Fire-type, so she had to be cautious on that front, in case Phoebe planned to play on the type advantage.

Regardless, she was certain that she could deal with them, no matter what they had.

“Begin!” And thus, the referee declared the start of the match.

“Let’s go, Venomoth! Poison Powder!”

The poison moth flapped his wings hard, unleashing the spores covering them in a toxic cloud all over their opponent’s field. However, before they took the attack, Phoebe’s ghosts vanished, leaving no trace of their presence whatsoever.

“Venomoth, Scizor, be ready. Those Ghosts will come into view at any second,” Katie warned them.

Both her Pokémon nodded at her. There was no need to rush things. All they had to do was wait for their opponents to make their move.

“Now! Will-O-Wisp and Sucker Punch!”

Phoebe’s instructions were the cue for Katie to put her plan into motion. She just had to give Scizor a glance, who quickly got the message. Right on the moment Banette and the candle reappeared to launch their attacks, the steel bug charged at them at overwhelming speed, his pincers glowing in a metallic tone.

The first blow of the match was for Katie, as Scizor’s pincers delivered a punch to each of the ghosts. The Lilycove trainer smiled at their success. True, Ghost-types could be sneaky and they were masters of vanishing from sight, but that wouldn’t do any good to them if she got them right before they attacked.

And that being the case, Scizor’s Bullet Punch was the perfect counter for them.

“Hey, that was a very fast attack. Your Scizor is really strong,” Phoebe praised.

“Thank you. We’ve been training hard with Bullet Punch’s speed for these situations. I’m sorry, but your strategy of hiding to sneak upon us won’t work.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

Suddenly, a dark aura surrounded Scizor, much to Katie’s shock. That made no sense, they hadn’t taken any hits! All Scizor did was…

“Wait a second…” Katie suddenly realized what happened. “Don’t tell me…”

“That’s right. My Banette has the ability Cursed Body,” Phoebe confirmed with pride, while Banette let out a sinister chuckle.

“No way…”

That was bad. Very bad. From what she knew, Banette commonly had either Insomnia or Frisk. Cursed Body was a much more troublesome ability, as it had disabled her Scizor’s Bullet Punch just as they had begun…

“Litwick, attack with Will-O-Wisp!”

“Dodge!”

The living candle (which apparently was called a Litwick) shot some fireballs from its head, but thankfully Scizor and Venomoth’s superior speed allowed them to dodge without issues.

Katie sighed in relief, they still had the edge on speed. Even without Bullet Punch her plan could still work. She just needed to take advantage of Scizor’s speed to land the hits and…

_‘No, wait. Scizor can only use direct attacks. If they hit, Cursed Body could trigger again and…’_

She quickly shook her head. There was no time to waste thinking; her Pokémon couldn’t dodge those Will-O-Wisps forever. She had to do something…

 _‘We have to take Litwick down first,’_ she decided. She couldn’t take any chances, lest any of her Pokémon could get burned. “Venomoth, use Disable!”

Venomoth’s psychic powers did their job: the little candle was momentarily frozen and its Will-O-Wisp had been blocked. Obviously Phoebe wasn’t the only one who could disable moves.

“Now, Banette! Spite!”

“Oh no!”

Katie couldn’t hide her terror when she saw her Venomoth engulfed by Dark-type energy. Spite could also disable Venomoth’s moves, thus limiting her resources drastically…

Had she walked into a trap? Litwick was just a decoy so Banette could use Spite on them?

No. She couldn’t freeze up again, she needed to think. Banette wouldn’t be able to use Spite and protect Litwick at the same time. The candle would be helpless and Scizor could take it out in a single blow. If they succeeded, they’d get the upper hand.

“Scizor!” the trainer called out. “Use Pursuit on Litwick!”

Flying at his signature speed, the steel insect pulled back one of his arms, ready to grab a hold of his foe. He had almost gotten to the candle ghost, but then…

“Now, Litwick! Inferno!” Phoebe called.

In the space of a second, Katie wished she’d misheard that. She wanted to scream desperately at Scizor to pull back the attack, but it was too late. Suddenly, the little flame on Litwick’s head burst out, turning into a giant infernal blast that consumed Scizor completely.

“Scizor!” she cried out.

“Wow! Look at that, ladies and gentlemen!” the MC shouted. “That surely had to hurt! A Fire-type attack is the worst that a Scizor could take at point-blank range! Not to mention that Inferno also inflicts burns whenever it lands!”

That was a painful, but accurate description of what just happened.

Katie was beginning to feel frustrated. None of her plans were working. Phoebe was a better trainer than she anticipated, and countered each and every one of her strategies.

She was starting to freeze again; her mind drew a blank. What was she supposed to do now?

“ZOR!”

Scizor’s fierce cry got the attention of all the spectators. It seemed a miracle, but he was still standing. Scorched and burned all over, but still battle ready. And not just him: Venomoth also glared in determination, while flapping next to his partner.

Her Pokémon hadn’t given up yet… so she couldn’t do it. She didn’t have the right to give up, not when her Pokémon were fighting so hard!

They had to win this battle at any cost. They had a promise to keep after all.

“Venomoth! Use Supersonic to confuse those Ghosts!” she ordered to begin their counterattack.

“Oh, no you won’t! Litwick, use Taunt!”

Before the moth could send his supersonic waves, the little candle surrounded itself with a strange aura, while also sticking out its tongue and pulling the eye down. In doing so, it drew the ire of Katie’s Pokémon, who stopped the Supersonic and started recklessly chasing after Litwick.

“Once again Katie is in a pinch!” the MC declared. “Will she be able to turn this around?”

The answer to that was uncertain. That move had struck a nerve on Katie; it was probably the worst attack they could use against Venomoth. They had focused training on different status moves to make use of his wings’ spores, but unfortunately, that left them only with Psybeam as an offensive move.

Usually that was enough to do the job, but the effects of Taunt effectively crippled all of their status moves and forced them to attack, leaving Venomoth with one single weapon…

The Lilycove trainer clenched her teeth. If her Pokémon only had one move, then that would be the one to make them win.

“Venomoth, Psybeam!”

Still angry over the Taunt’s effects, Venomoth channeled all of his mental powers into a single energy beam. However, upon seeing the incoming attack, the little ghost candle giggled mockingly, before shrinking itself to a size Katie could barely see.

“Was that…?”

“Yes, it was Minimize,” Phoebe confirmed with a smile. “My Litwick isn’t made to take hits, so it comes in handy to avoid damage.”

A size-reducing move. Such a smart tactic; Venomoth’s Psybeams would have it hard to hit such a tiny opponent.

But she still had Scizor, and if they could take Banette out, then they could deal with Litwick later.

“Scizor! Attack Banette with Pursuit!”

The Cursed Body didn’t matter anymore. If she could land a hit with a Dark-type move, the supereffective damage would do the trick.

But the Lilycove trainer once again saw her plans foiled, as just before being struck by Scizor, her rival’s Banette simply vanished into thin air, as the sneaky ghost it was. The insect kept flying forward, not only losing sight of his foe, but also getting surrounded by a red aura and suffering the effects of his burn.

“Scizor!” Katie shouted in worry upon seeing her Pokémon’s damage. And unfortunately, it wasn’t over yet.

“Phantom Force!”

Banette emerged from the ground like a specter, sending Scizor to fly with a punch. For a moment, Katie thought of calling for Venomoth’s help, but he was too busy, angrily chasing around the tiny Litwick, blinded by the Taunt-induced rage.

The trainer clenched her teeth in frustration once more. None of her strategies had worked, and she’d lost control of the match long ago. She just couldn’t think of any way to counter Phoebe’s own strategies. Ghosts were certainly fearsome and formidable foes.

Once again she was losing her cool. No matter how much she tried to keep focused on the fight, it was too hard as she couldn’t even properly think of the next instruction…

And then, Scizor rose back up with an intimidating groan, as he started glowing with a green aura.

“Ah! It looks like Scizor gets back up with a last resort to win the battle!” the MC announced. “The ability Swarm, that boosts Bug-type moves’ power in critical moments!”

Katie wasn’t sure whether she should be happy for the power boost, or worried for pushing Scizor to his limits. If only it was a Hyper Swarm, an ability like Rubrum’s Torchic had, such power could come in handy right now…

But upon recalling her previous battle, she also remembered Roxanne’s advice. She couldn’t give up now; a Pokémon battle was never decided until the very end. If Rubrum had turned the tide and was so close to beating her, she could do the same with Phoebe.

“Scizor! Use all your power in X-Scissor!”

“That won’t work!” Phoebe declared. “Dodge it, Banette!”

The steel insect focused all the power granted by Swarm, placing both arms in front forming an X, before flying at full speed at his opponent. Banette simply let out a cackle and dived underground with its intangibility. Phoebe seemed satisfied upon noticing her Pokémon avoided damage, but Katie allowed herself a smile, as one of her strategies had actually worked.

After all, the X-Scissor was never aimed at Banette.

“Litwick!” Phoebe cried out, and for the first time in the match, she seemed worried.

But it was too late: the tiny Litwick was so busy dodging Venomoth’s Psybeams (and mocking him), that he didn’t react in time when Scizor jumped him.

Either because of Litwick’s reduced size, or the attack’s power, the candle took quite a bit of damage after that blow. Most likely, it would have been knocked out if it wasn’t for the type advantage.

Unfortunately, that powerful attack came at a heavy price. Katie extended her Pokéball and returned Scizor, who immediately fainted afterwards because of the burns. She’d lost her main attacker, but causing so much damage to Litwick would be the key to her victory.

Once more, Katie calmed down and came up with a plan. She knew she could trust Venomoth, as he was her first capture and one of the Pokémon who’d been the longest with her, so he had the strength to win this match.

All she had to do was take Litwick down with a couple of Psybeam attacks, since after getting hurt like that, it wouldn’t be able to dodge them as easily as before. With Litwick out of the picture, the Taunt would eventually wear down, and Venomoth would be able to use all of his moves again. Then, it’d all come down to a one-on-one duel against Banette, and since Venomoth hadn’t taken much damage, she could bring it down with status moves.

“Venomoth!” Katie had a brief exchange of looks with her moth, and upon seeing the determination in his eyes, she proceeded to attack. “Take down that Litwick with Psybeam!”

The multicolored beam was fired at point-blank range, and Litwick couldn’t dodge, just like she expected. She was close, one more time and that ghost would go down, just one more hit and…

“Spite!”

And with that single word, Phoebe completely destroyed Katie’s plans. Banette engulfed Venomoth with its dark energy, again preventing him from using Psybeam. They’d just blocked the last attack that could have given her victory.

“No…” Katie couldn’t stop a gasp from escaping her throat. They were so close to get their strategy completed, that Litwick was about to go down! With those wounds it wouldn’t survive another Psybeam! If only…

“Now, Litwick!” And to Katie’s chagrin, Phoebe wasn’t done yet again.

Litwick floated towards Venomoth with a sinister look. Before Katie could even ask what was going on, she noticed an energy thread connecting both Pokémon. Suddenly, it was like the ghost was feeding on the moth’s energy, as if trying to steal his soul.

The Lilycove trainer was left dumbfounded when many wounds formed all over her Pokémon’s body, while the damage on Litwick began to heal.

“I don’t get it, what…” Katie was too shocked to even ask, let alone understand what was going on.

Phoebe then proceeded to explain, smiling as widely as during all the fight. “It’s Litwick’s nature. Their kind are very good at manipulating life energy, so that’s why I taught him the move Pain Split.”

“Pain Split?”

“Yes. Litwick and Venomoth’s vital energy will be split evenly between them. That’s why your Pokémon is now taking part of the damage you inflicted on mine. Conversely, Litwick is now recovering with your cute Venomoth’s energy.”

“Impossible…” The Lilycove trainer didn’t want to believe it, but that move’s effect had pretty much sealed their fates. It rendered Scizor’s sacrifice to weaken Litwick completely useless.

“Now, Inferno!”

Once he regained his energy and felt sated, the small ghostly candle expanded his flames at full power, delivering the Inferno at point-blank range. Venomoth couldn’t do anything to dodge, although it triggered his Shield Dust ability, preventing additional burn damage with the spores.

The so-called “Cool Beauty” could only watch how her moth plummeted down, like a falling star after being hit by such supereffective damage. He was still conscious, trying painfully to get back up, but Litwick used Taunt again.

Suddenly, she found herself out of options, while Venomoth remained helpless. With Taunt blocking his status moves, and Spite suppressing the Psybeam, there was nothing Katie could do. She could only glance at her first capture, covered in wounds and unable to take flight. The Lilycove trainer found herself frozen again.

Venomoth turned to his trainer, still determined, waiting for any order, anything that pulled him out of that pinch. But upon seeing his trainer’s eyes, all he found was defeat and resignation. All Katie could do was fight to hold back the tears about to escape her eyes.

She recalled Roxanne’s words in search of hope, but she didn’t find it. No matter how hard she tried to come up with a plan, there wasn’t any way to overcome this challenge. Her mind drew a blank, and it was her defeat.

“Banette, use Shadow Sneak! Litwick, use Inferno!”

Those attacks were the last nail in the coffin, all that was left to put an end to the battle. Katie didn’t even pay attention to the words of the referee or the MC, declaring the end of the match.

She simply returned her defeated Venomoth to the Pokéball, without a single word. She was defeated, defeated in the most crushing way.

For a few seconds, she remained frozen, unable to hear the crowd’s screams, or her opponent’s victory cheers. Her participation had come to an end abruptly and early. Everything she planned, the strategies she prepared with her other Pokémon, and for the next rounds… her promise with John… everything was over.

Once she came to, she realized she couldn’t stand there anymore. She turned back on her feet and ran off, unable to hold back her tears anymore. Shame and embarrassment overcame her; all she wanted was to get away from there, nothing else mattered.

* * *

**_Shortly after…_ **

Frustration. That was the only thing Katie felt at that moment.

She had no idea how far she ran or how long. All she knew was that she ended up at one of the many parks around Ever Grande City, and sat on a faraway bench where nobody would see her. Especially, she didn’t want _him_ to see him like this.

_‘I don’t get it. How could this happen? How could I lose like this?’_

Not only she’d been defeated, she’d been utterly demolished. Like she never had a chance against Phoebe to begin with. No matter what strategy she tried to use, nothing of what she tried worked. The Ghost-type specialist had completely surpassed her in everything.

Where did she go wrong? She tried to be careful in that battle, and prepared her team to counter the Ghost-types’ strengths. She researched meticulously about her opponent, and she was certain that she could counter anything Phoebe could throw at her. Heck, that Litwick probably wasn’t even an evolved Pokémon and yet…

_‘Perhaps I should have used Sealeo… maybe he could have…’_

No, no she couldn’t think about that. It was neither Scizor’s nor Venomoth’s fault that they had lost. Both of them fought with determination and returned the trust she had put in them. It was she who let them down: once again she froze when her Pokémon needed her the most.

Just recalling the look Venomoth gave her right before he took those last attacks broke her heart. Her Pokémon clearly trusted her, but Katie let him down completely.

Katie figured that everyone back at Lilycove would be really disappointed in her. Not only for losing so early into the League, but for storming off in such an undignified manner when she lost. Some “Cool Beauty” she turned out to be.

“Snow!”

“Hmm?” Katie raised her look.

A Snorunt that looked strangely familiar was standing before her, its eyes fixated on her. It remained that way for a few seconds… until suddenly, without warning, blew some cold air on her face.

“Hey!”

As she covered herself and tried to wipe the frost off her face, she heard the Snorunt laughing and hopping. Even though she wasn’t exactly in the mood, Katie quickly deduced why it looked so familiar.

Surely enough, her suspicions were confirmed when she saw a trainer in a red hoodie running at her with concern.

“Sorry! Sorry!” the boy apologized as he picked the Snorunt in his arms, although the little Pokémon didn’t stop and blew more snow at its trainer. “Knock it off, that’s enough!”

“Hey, Rubrum,” she greeted without much enthusiasm, though trying to not to sound too rude.

“Good thing I found you. I couldn’t thank you for leaving my Dex with Nurse Joy yesterday,” he added. “I don’t know what I’d have done if I lost him.”

**“You’d probably have gotten lost yourself, stupid human.”**

Katie was so upset with her defeat that she didn’t feel annoyed at Rubrum’s Pokédex snark. Rubrum himself didn’t seem to care, and quickly went back to Snorunt and her earlier prank.

“I’m really sorry, Snorunt’s been a little too restless lately,” Rubrum apologized once more. “But she won’t be doing it anymore, right? Freezing people isn’t funny, Snorunt.”

Katie watched how Rubrum scolded his Pokémon, although the latter didn’t seem to take it seriously and continued to giggle even with her mouth gagged. She couldn’t help but smile a bit, even though she was having her own issues.

“Hey, something wrong?” Rubrum asked, interrupting his lecture to Snorunt to look at her.

“It’s nothing,” she said, trying to shrug it off. Though it was pointless; she’d been crying for so long he’d probably already saw her eyes red and puffy. “You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Were you crying? Is it because of your last match? Hey, you fought very well, there’s no need to feel ashamed.”

“I’m not crying because I lost,” she said. “I’m not that much of a sore loser.”

“Then why?”

Katie turned to see him. For a moment, she felt the urge to yell at him to leave her alone, that it wasn’t his business and that she wanted to be alone and forget everything. But she stopped herself; Rubrum was not to blame for the mistakes _she_ made.

Besides, upon looking at him, she saw his face showed genuine concern for her. That was strange, considering they had known each other for less than a day.

“You wanna talk about that?” he asked after a few seconds, since she still didn’t answer.

Katie sighed. Maybe, just maybe, she needed someone to talk to. Better it to be Rubrum, instead of her family, or worse, John himself. And he probably wouldn’t leave her alone until she said something.

“Fine. John and I… we made a promise to each other,” she finally said. “We faced each other three times during our journey. I won one, he won another, and the third time we tied. We promised we’d break the tie during the Hoenn League tournament.”

“I see.” Rubrum nodded. “But hey, that’s not the end of the world. There’s always next year for you and Johnny-bro to face each other.”

“You don’t understand,” Katie said. “John’s my friend, and my great rival. We’ve both followed each other’s growth since we began our journeys. When I met him, he looked like a frail and helpless boy, but now… it still amazes me how strong he grew in such a short time. I promised we’d fight each other in this tournament… and I couldn’t keep that promise. I let him down.”

“Hey, you think he’s gonna be mad for something like that?” asked Rubrum. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but after I spent yesterday afternoon with you guys, he didn’t strike me as the type who’d be mad at you just because you lost. Have you guys talked about it?”

“Of course not,” Katie said. “I can’t let him see me like this. In fact, it’s better that he doesn’t see me at all. I’m going home right now.”

“Why? The competition isn’t over yet.”

“It is for me,” she laconically said. “I have to go back home. I need to train much harder after this.”

“You’re not staying to root for him?”

Katie stopped. Why was this boy so pushy? And in any case, what did he care about her relationship with John? She had agreed to hang out yesterday’s afternoon with him, but only because John wanted to be friends with him, nothing more. She had nothing against him, but if it depended on her, she’d rather keep her distance.

“John doesn’t need me to root for him,” she said. “He made it to the Victory Tournament, I didn’t. He’s strong, I’m weak. I couldn’t fulfill the promise I made, so I’d rather not see him right now.”

“Hey, are you listening to yourself?” Rubrum asked, suddenly raising his voice and taking a serious expression. “You’re just up and leaving, instead of rooting for your friend just because you lost once?”

“What’s that to you? You don’t have the right to judge me!”

“I’m not judging you.” Rubrum placed one hand on his hip, while the other still held Snorunt. “It’s just that I’ve noticed that you’re just talking about that promise you guys made, of that battle to break your tie. And hey, I’m really sorry you didn’t get to it, but I think you’re overreacting.”

“What do you know? That promise, that battle is very important to me!”

“More than your friendship with Johnny-bro?”

Katie opened her mouth to replay, but she suddenly stopped. She took a couple seconds to assimilate Rubrum’s words, and he gave her a look of annoyance that, while seeming pointless at first, suddenly made sense.

“Look, I might have just met you guys, but yesterday Johnny-bro did nothing but praise you, remember? He said you were a really nice girl, and an amazing trainer. From the way he talked, he clearly holds you in high esteem. But I don’t see you returning much of it.”

“How dare you? Of course I hold him in high esteem too!”

“As a friend, or just as a trainer? Even yesterday, all you talked about was about the battles you guys had. Nothing more.”

Once more, Katie words died out in her mouth, and she couldn’t reply. He was right; she didn’t take part in yesterday’s conversations that much, unless the topic was about the battles she and John had during their encounters. But there was nothing wrong with that, was there?

“For the record, I have nothing against forming friendly rivalries with others. But I always thought the emphasis was on the ‘friendly’ part over the ‘rivalry’ one.”

Katie felt those words like a knife stabbing her in the chest. Especially since everything he said was true, as much as it hurt.

John regarded her as a friend, and she though she did the same… but she didn’t. She was so focused in seeing him as rival, as someone she wanted to beat, that she neglected treating him as a friend.

Not because he needed to toughen up; he’d done that pretty well all things considered. It was because she was jealous of his fast progress. And not only in their matches against each other, but also those times they teamed up.

She didn’t see it during their first team battles, against Natasha the Melon Master, or against the Winstrate family, and later their son Vito. She actually saw it that time when they met that odd couple who seemed to have a fairy tale complex, dressing up the part like a prince and princess, and who assumed (erroneously) that she and John were boyfriend and girlfriend.

…

_“Golduck, Hydro Pump!”_

_Golduck fired out the water torrent at the rolling mass, formed by the Nidoking and Nidoqueen in the middle of their joint Submission attack. Unfortunately, the attack just splashed aside, unable to stop them, and they crashed against the duck Pokémon and knocked him up into the air._

_“Golduck, no!” Katie shouted._

_“Gardevoir, stop them and help Golduck with Psychic!”_

_And as soon as she heard John’s order, Gardevoir teleported between their foes and Golduck, outstretching both arms in opposite directions. With one hand, she stopped both Poison-types, making them roll in place in the air for a moment, while the other stopped Golduck from crashing against a rock, placing him back safely on the ground._

_“Impressive, but that won’t overcome the power of our love! Right, Andi?”_

_“Why of course not, my beloved Oscar! No amateur couple will ever beat us!”_

_“We’re not a couple!” Katie shouted._

_She then rolled her eyes at the love display those two had engaged on, in the middle of the battle no less. It made her stomach turn, but John had given them the chance they needed to win, as Gardevoir still used Psychic to hold them in place._

_“I bet their Pokémon love snogging as much as they do,” Katie said. “Golduck, use Confusion and crash them against each other!”_

_“Gol…DUCK!”_

_The combined psychic energies of both attacks did their job. With Gardevoir’s Psychic keeping them immobile, Golduck’s Confusion could easily smack them against each other, without them putting up any resistance. And just for good measure, she also ordered him to repeatedly slam them against the ground, before throwing them towards the same rock Golduck almost crashed into._

_“Oh no!” Oscar exclaimed. “This cannot be, it’s inconceivable!”_

_“How could we lose, my love?!” Andi added._

_“Nidoking, Nidoqueen, return now!” both shouted in unison, recalling their fallen Pokémon, before glaring at her and John. “WE SHALL GET OUT VENGEANCE FOR THIS, HAVE NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, YOU AMATEUR COUPLE!”_

_As Oscar and Andi ran off crying and trying to console each other, Katie placed a hand on her forehead and shook her head. John simply chuckled, not caring too much about what they thought._

_“God, what’s wrong with those two?” Katie said. “Maybe if they weren’t so busy being lovey-dovey they could have focused on beating us.”_

_“I guess that proves that we make the best team here, doesn’t it?” John said._

_Katie simply smiled. Between her strategies and John’s power, those two never stood a chance. Of course they were the best team._

…

Although she factored in the strategy, the truth was that John had done most of the heavy lifting during that battle. Especially at the last moment: the fact that Gardevoir could execute a Psychic to stop _two_ Pokémon simultaneously, while also rescuing her Golduck from crashing evidenced a superb control and power.

She hated to admit it, but that battle had been won more by John than by her. A part of her at the time even told her he probably had surpassed her, and it made her feel envious. Although, the fact they tied during their last encounter made her forget it.

Was that when she started feeling that way with John? Was she really that obsessed with proving herself the better of the two?

“I… guess I got carried away in our competition,” she finally said.

Rubrum rolled his eyes, and she couldn’t blame her. That was a poor defense for her attitude, and she knew it. She felt really ashamed of herself.

“You know, I took a liking to you guys, so I figured I could stay to cheer you on even if I’m not in the competition anymore,” he said. “But you, I mean, you’ve been his friend for a longer time, and you can’t do that for him? What kind of friend does that?”

This time, Katie didn’t even try to defend herself. Rubrum started walking away, though he stopped for a moment to talk to her again, with his back turned.

“Johnny’s a nice guy. You should appreciate him more, not everyone is lucky enough to meet a friend like him. Competing isn’t wrong, but it’s not the only thing that matters in life, you know.”

And with those words, Rubrum left the park, leaving Katie alone with her thoughts. Once again she felt frustrated and ashamed. But not for losing or breaking her promise, but for drowning in her self-pity, and wanting to run away like a coward. She was so busy feeling sorry for herself, she didn’t notice there was something she could still do.

“He’s right. What kind of friend am I?”

Enough with the tears. She had to see John immediately. Maybe she had been eliminated, but John was still moving forward, and she still could (and should) root for him the rest of the competition.

* * *

**_The following day…_ **

The Victory Tournament had finally begun. Even though Katie was still upset that she didn’t make it, and she didn’t like being just a spectator, she swallowed her pride to root for John as she should. Not as a rival, but as a friend.

The battle had reached a crucial point. Even though the match had been more or less even at first, John’s opponent, a trainer named Tyson, had managed to gain the upper hand during the second half. John was down only to his Gardevoir, while Tyson had a Sceptile on the field, after switching out his Metagross, and had yet to reveal his sixth Pokémon.

“Come on, John, don’t go losing now,” Katie muttered as she clenched her fists. “Please, you have to win this one for me too.”

Back on the battlefield, she saw Tyson commanding his Sceptile to fire a salvo of Bullet Seed. John and Gardevoir replied using Psychic to redirect and use them against Sceptile, forcing him to cover his face with both arms.

“Gardevoir, use Moonblast!”

Gardevoir raised her hands as she gathered up lunar energy, compressing it in an orb before throwing it at Sceptile, who was still on the defensive.

“Deflect it with Iron Tail!” Tyson shouted.

Sceptile crouched and raised his tail, which took on a metallic glow before turning into a long and sharp blade. Right before the lunar energy orb hit him, he turned around and batted it away, avoiding damage.

And from what Katie could see, they weren’t stopping there.

“Charge, Sceptile, keep attacking!”

“Teleport away!” John replied.

Just when Sceptile charged in to strike Gardevoir with Iron Tail, she vanished in a flash and reappeared on the other side of the field, dodging the attack. Nevertheless, Sceptile didn’t stop after missing once, but turned around quickly and charged again, forcing Gardevoir to teleport away once more.

The cycle continued for a couple minutes, and Katie noticed how Gardevoir’s reactions were getting slower. It made sense: she fought two of Tyson’s Pokémon during the first half, and even though she didn’t take much damage, the fatigue was there. Sceptile, on the other hand, hadn’t battled yet, and still had two more Pokémon in wait behind him just in case.

Finally, either through a lucky strike or anticipation, Sceptile delivered a tail slash at Gardevoir for supereffective damage.

“Alright, get her and use Giga Drain!” Tyson called.

Katie’s eyes widened in horror upon seeing how Sceptile, taking advantage of Gardevoir still being stunned from the previous attack, grabbed her from behind holding her neck with an arm, and her waist with the other. Both Pokémon began glowing with a green light as Sceptile sucked Gardevoir’s vitality out of her.

It reminded her too much of her own battle against Phoebe’s Litwick.

Gardevoir fought back, and she finally used Psychic to break free of Sceptile, but the Giga Drain had done its work, leaving her breathing heavily. Things didn’t look too good for her and John.

“Sceptile, fire Solar Beam at full power!” Tyson exclaimed.

“Gardevoir, counter with Charge Beam!” John replied.

With the weather on his side, Sceptile could charge his attack relatively fast. In turn, Gardevoir had used Charge Beam several times during the match, so Katie estimated they’d be more or less evenly matched in power. Both Pokémon fired their beams at the same time, colliding in the center of the field, and for a moment, it seemed like the Charge Beam would win…

… until there was an explosion in the collision point. The flash caused by the attacks prevented Katie and the rest of the spectators from seeing what happened, although she could hear the voices of the trainers and Pokémon on the field crying out just after that.

Once the view was clear and the dust clouds settled, the stadium was left in complete silence. No one knew what happened, and Katie clenched on her blouse, wishing that Gardevoir had dodged the worst part of the blast.

The dust dissipated on Tyson’s side first, revealing a badly hurt Sceptile who supported himself with a knee and an arm, breathing heavily. Katie waited until the view was clear on John’s side, praying for Gardevoir to be better…

… but much to her chagrin. Gardevoir was on the ground, motionless and with her arms spread out. The match had been sealed.

“Gardevoir is unable to battle!” the referee declared raising his flag. “Since Tyson still has three Pokémon in active, he is the winner of this match and moves forward to the next round!”

“What a display of power, ladies and gentlemen!” the MC exclaimed. “John Archer and his Pokémon fought bravely, but they were no match for Tyson’s overwhelming strength and strategies!”

As the crowd erupted in cheers and Tyson celebrated his victory, Katie saw John recall his Gardevoir. Shortly after, he walked up to Tyson before offering him a handshake in good sportsmanship.

“Why couldn’t I do the same?” she wondered, as she joined in with the applause.

She made a note to properly seek out Phoebe later, as she didn’t congratulate for beating her in their match. That had been very rude of her, no matter how upset she was about the loss.

“That was an interesting match.”

The nearby voice caught Katie off-guard, as upon turning around she saw next to her the very same girl she was thinking about. She was so focused on the match she didn’t even sensed her approach.

Or maybe she shared a quirk with her Ghost Pokémon?

“Er… hi,” Katie greeted. It was a bit awkward to meet her like that, but since she had already decided it, she might as well do it at once.

“Hey,” Phoebe replied in kind. “So, are you alright? You seemed very upset after our match yesterday.”

Katie shrugged. “Don’t worry, I’m fine now. I’m… sorry I stormed off like that. I didn’t even congratulate you on your victory.”

“That’s alright,” the dark-skinned girl replied. “To be honest, you fought quite well. Your strategies are pretty good; it wasn’t easy to find a way to counter them.”

Katie smiled, feeling flattered. Of course, she couldn’t be the only one who planned ahead how to beat her opponents. Some were better at it than others, evidently.

“I guess you were checking who’d be your next round opponent?” Katie asked, to what Phoebe nodded. “Well, in that case, I’d be careful if I were you. If that boy defeated my friend, that means he must be pretty good.”

“I’ll keep it in mind, thanks.”

Without further ado, Phoebe left. Katie, for her part, looked back at the field, and seeing how both combatants headed for the exits, that was her cue to do the same.

…

With the match over, Katie headed for the exit tunnel to intercept John. Much to her surprise (or maybe not) somebody else had gotten ahead of her.

“… real shame, Johnny-bro. But you were awesome, honest.”

“Thanks, Rubrum. I don’t feel bad for losing. We gave it our all, and that’s all what matters.”

“Ahem”. Katie cleared her throat to make her presence known. “Great battle, John. It’s a real shame you lost. You deserved to go much further than this.”

“Don’t worry about it, Katie,” he said. “Thanks for coming to support me, means a lot to me.”

Katie almost felt tempted to say that she wouldn’t have if Rubrum hadn’t convinced her, but then decided it wasn’t necessary. Especially considering that the aforementioned wasn’t glaring at her, which made her feel relieved.

“Well then, since the three of us are out of the competition,” Rubrum grabbed them both into a group hug, “anybody wants do drown the sorrows in an ice-cream or something? My treat!”

“No objections,” Katie said, trying to smile. John nodded too.

Drowning the sorrows in an ice-cream sounded better than moping. And if Rubrum offered to pay the bill, how could she refuse? Especially since she no longer had the free food privilege for the competitors.

…

While Rubrum was off to get their order, Katie and John waited for him at the table. It was weird to see him without his Pokémon around, but they were at the Pokémon Center, needing treatment after that hard last battle.

“Hey, John, can I ask you something? Do you think… I’ve been a good friend?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I mean… I know I’m constantly reminding you that we’re rivals and all that. And I wondered if maybe, just maybe… I might have gotten carried away by it.”

“I don’t think so. You’re competitive by nature, but that doesn’t make you a mean person.”

“Hey, you don’t have to sugarcoat it, okay?” she said. “Come on, you can tell me in all honesty. I’m not gonna get mad, I promise.”

Katie stared directly into his eyes. John sometimes could be too nice for his own good, and while he was a good trainer, maybe deep down he was still that fragile, helpless boy she saved from that Taillow flock. He might’ve needed a push to grow some backbone.

“Well… truth be told, sometimes I felt uncomfortable when you reminded me of that promise we made,” John said. “When you lost against that Phoebe girl, I knew you were going to beat yourself up over it, and I tried to find you to tell you everything was alright, but…”

“I ran off like a crybaby,” she completed. “I don’t feel proud of it in the least.”

“Look, I’m not judging you, but it’s the first time I saw you take a defeat so badly,” John pointed out. “Why was that?”

“I’m not sure… no, who am I kidding, I do know,” Katie admitted. “I guess I felt a tad envious. Every time we met and I saw how much you improved, how strong you’d grown in such short notice, I felt like I was falling behind. And I didn’t want that to happen.”

“Hey, I’ve never seen myself as better than you,” John assured. “You’ve become strong yourself, but neither of us is invincible. There’s always someone better out there.”

Katie nodded. Looking back now, her victories had given her so much confidence in her skills and strategies, she came to believe they were infallible. At the same time, seeing John’s growth made her start to wish that he couldn’t lose to anybody.

Or rather, that he shouldn’t lose to anyone but _her_.

“Besides, while I do like competing with you, it’s much funnier when we’re on the same side,” John continued.

“Why do you say that?” she asked. “After a while you clearly didn’t need my help anymore.”

“I don’t see it that way,” John assured. “When we fought together, I felt I could do my best because you were there, watching my back. I’m not a great strategist like you, so I always tried to follow your example to better myself.”

The girl was surprised. She had no idea John held her in such high regard for her strategies, as much as she did to him for his strength and natural talent.

Then again, if she hadn’t been so focused on her wish to beat him, maybe she’d noticed much earlier.

They definitely needed to start being more friends than rivals from then on.

“Thanks for waiting!” Rubrum’s voice interrupted her thoughts. He immediately proceeded to place the trays with the ice-creams on the table. “Here we go, a double mint-chocolate for Miss Katie, two triple vanilla-strawberry for Johnny-bro, and two triple pistachio-peanut butter for yours truly. Let’s dig in!”

And without further words, they started eating (or rather, DEVOUR) their ice-creams. Katie decided to take her time to taste hers; after all, they had the rest of the afternoon to engage in friendly chatter.

Losing the competition turned out to be not so bad after all.

* * *

**_Next morning…_ **

Katie got up rather early, feeling a lot more refreshed after the previous day. A good night of sleep helped her clear her mind and think better about the recent events.

More specifically, about how things needed to change, if she wanted to be a better trainer, but more importantly, a better friend.

“Hey, Katie, mornin’!” a cheerful voice greeted her.

The Lilycove girl saw Rubrum approaching, again with his Snorunt in arms, and for a preventive measure, a makeshift face mask covering her mouth. She appreciated it; she didn’t want to get more frost blown on her face.

“Good morning, did you have a good sleep?” she replied.

“Yeah, thanks for asking,” Rubrum replied, before glancing at Snorunt. “And just in case, I decided to take some precautions with this naughty little one from now on.”

“Hmmf-hmmf!” Snorunt complained.

“Sorry, but until you stop pranking people, you’ll have to put up with it,” Rubrum said severely, before turning back to Katie. “So, planning to go home already?”

“Not yet. I still need to talk to John about some things,” she answered. “Hey… I wanted to thank you.”

“Hmm? For what?”

“Everything you told me was true. I was so bent on seeing John as my rival, I neglected to treat him as a friend. And that needs to change. I have to show him that I do care about him.” Katie bowed her head. “Really, thank you so much.”

“Haha, hey, you don’t need to thank me anything,” he replied with modesty. “Rather, I should apologize for meddling in your business. It’s a bad habit of mine.”

Katie simply shrugged. Although it was annoying at first, meeting Rubrum helped her put things in perspective, and she was really grateful for it. Which was why she felt in debt and wanted to repay him somehow.

And right then, she got an idea.

“By the way, how’s your Torchic?” she asked.

“Ah, Nurse Joy says he’ll be just fine,” Rubrum replied. “Two full days of sleep will be enough to recover after our battle.”

“About that… did you know your Torchic has something called Hyper Blaze?”

“Hyper Blaze? What’s that?”

“After our battle, I called a teacher at the school I studied at,” Katie explained. “She told me some Pokémon have variants of the power-boosting abilities. They’re far more powerful than normal, but harder to control.”

“For real?” Rubrum asked. “That explains why Torchic goes nuts every time it triggers. So Hyper Blaze, huh? You know something else about it?”

“Not really, except that they’re very rare,” Katie said. “You might need some other kind of training to master it. If you go to Rustboro City, maybe you should ask Roxanne. She might know more about it.”

“I see. Hey, thanks for the tip. Maybe now I’ll find a way we can control all that power. Then we could have a rematch without danger, don’t you think so?”

“Sounds good to me!” She smiled. Yeah, facing an opponent with that kind of power, but without the risk of causing a fire, that definitely sounded great.

A grateful Rubrum abandoned the Pokémon Center, after exchanging PokéNav numbers with her, while Katie kept waiting for John to show up. As she had said, she needed to talk to him about some things.

Fortunately, the wait wasn’t too long, as five minutes later the boy walked downstairs. After picking up his Pokémon, he turned out towards the entrance door where she was waiting for him, and smiled.

“Hey, good morning,” he greeted. “Well, I see you’re ready to go back home too.”

“Yeah, there’s not much point in staying the rest of the competition,” Katie said. “It’s not like I have any other friends to root for now.”

“Rubrum is already gone?” John asked, and she nodded. “What a shame, I thought we could keep in touch.”

“Easy, I’ve got his PokéNav number,” she said. “Before I go, though, I’d like to talk to you about something.”

“About what?”

“What you told me, about how you enjoyed more when we battled on the same side, that left me thinking. In our last tag team battle, I felt you were doing the heavy lifting while I did nothing, really. But I realized I was upset because I thought you had surpassed me.”

“Hey, I never…”

“Please let me finish,” she said. “Point is, I could turn that worry off when we fought later, since I guess I was happy with a tie because it made me think we were still equals, and I wasn’t falling behind you. That’s why I made you promise we’d meet again at the Hoenn League to break the tie.

“But then, all this happened, and I realized. I was so obsessed with beating you that I stopped seeing you as a friend. And that was wrong, I know. That’s why I want to make it up to you now.”

“Katie…”

The girl looked into the boy’s eyes once more. She’d always looked out for herself and that’s why she preferred to travel alone. But in doing so, she built an ice wall that kept her away from others who tried to be her friends. More than a “Cool Beauty”, she seemed on the way to become an “Ice Queen”.

“So… would you like it that we travel together for a while?” she said. “I know we can learn a lot of each other. I still want us to have that battle, but this time I want us to have it as friends, not as rivals. Is that okay?”

“Sure, I would like that,” John said with a smile. “Even with my Pokémon, sometimes it’s a bit lonely to travel by myself. That would be a nice change.”

“I’m glad,” Katie said. “I still need to go back home to settle some matters and see my family, so how about we meet, say, in a couple months at Slateport? Maybe we could travel to some region outside Hoenn.”

“That’s fine with me. I have some unfinished business too, so I’ll see you then.”

“You promise,” she asked, raising her pinky finger.

“I promise,” he replied in kind.

So then, both brought together the finger to seal their promise. Maybe they had both lost in the competition, and they couldn’t have their battle right now, but in exchange for that, Katie felt she’d won something more important.

The next time she and John saw each other, they’d cease to be rivals to become traveling companions. Then, she could act as a true friend, just like he wanted and deserved.

**_FIN._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this brings Katie’s Gaiden to a closure. Truth be told, at first it was going to be much longer, but we decided to focus in the most important stuff and leave the story as a two-parter.
> 
> Originally, BRANDON was planning on having cameos of characters like Jeffrey from DP or Houji from the latest season as participants in the league, while characters like Phoebe or Tyson would have a much bigger role. But as they say, “don’t spread yourself too thin”; so I suggested we focused on Katie and John’s relationship. In fact, I think one of the biggest problems I spotted was that, in BRANDON’s original idea, there was a specific role split among several characters, which I noticed could easily have been given to one. The scenes with Rubrum in this chapter were originally planned for Tyson, but we thought it wouldn’t be fair to establish him at the beginning and then just drop him off the map like that.
> 
> The other thing, since in the anime all that we were shown of Katie’s personality was that she’s strategic and analytical with her opponents (plus the other random bits Brock had written down about her, but that’s neither here nor there) I figured that wasn’t material to make it an interesting story, given that Katie was to spend the rest of the gaiden just as a spectator analyzing the strategies of the other competitors after John convinced her to stay despite losing. Thus I suggested to shift the focus to their rivalry, to show Katie on different tones: she’s competitive, a bit overconfident when she’s doing well, and as you saw here, also capable of feeling envy and jealousy when she thinks she’s falling behind, for a direct contrast with John who wanted to focus more on the “friendly” part instead of the “rivalry” one, unlike her. The advantage of taking a character of the day who is so blank, is that you can develop them much more. I remember I had a similar experience with Sho, even though unlike Katie he already had a better defined baseline personality and thus made it easier, but I nonetheless enjoyed writing her.
> 
> Lastly, about the ending, that was the plan, to end this story right when Katie and John part ways, unaware that it’ll be the last time they met. You know something? At some point I was tempted to include the scene of Katie learning through the news about John’s death, but after the relatively lighthearted tone of this gaiden, I figured it’d be too cruel. We already showed her crying nonstop, so it’s not hard to imagine how broken she must have felt about it. I mean, considering that in the last Holiday Special she visited his grave, we can be certain that she hasn’t fully gotten over it.
> 
> So then, this is as far as we go for now. Thanks for reading and see you next chance!

**Author's Note:**

> So, here we are, back for the Resetverse. We brought you this little collaborative Gaiden while we're working on the next main story chapter. Hopefully you'll enjoy it.
> 
> This story underwent quite a bit of rewrite, as BRANDON wanted to add a lot of stuff that ultimately had to be cut off. For starters, he was planning on using Enta from the Pokémon Battle Frontier manga to create along with Katie and John a dynamic similar to Ash, Morrison and Tyson in Advance Generation. However, as Viroro was planning on using Enta in one of his future stories, Rubrum was created to replace him. Originally, BRANDON also planned on making Katie lose to Rubrum, but that created two heavy problems. One, that would reduce her to little more than a spectator (which was his intention at first, until we pointed out how that didn't work if she was supposed to be the protagonist), and two, by then we had noticed how the Ash-siblings tend to win most of the time (their defeats are mostly off-screen), so we suggested that she should beat him instead to show that, while they might be talented, they're not unbeatable.
> 
> As for the rest of ideas, while I don’t think they were bad, BRANDON had just too many elements and characters to insert here, which would have made this a heavy read. So when I stepped in, I suggested that we shifted the focus to the friendship-rivalry between John and Katie, keeping the latter in the center of the action and trying to trim that wasn’t so relevant to the story. It’s a shame that so much stuff got lost in the process, but like I told BRANDON, there’s always chance to do that in future stories.
> 
> I’d also add that it gave us the chance to expand John Archer’s characterization, whom for the record, when I reread his chapter in the main story, I noticed the narration didn’t even describe what he was wearing. For the record, it happens that I have a figurine of Brendan (with his original design from Ruby and Sapphire) of the Pokémon Trading Figure game, but the red parts are painted blue, so I figured I could give John that outfit, sans obviously that hat many of us thought it was his hair for years. Now that we’ve got an artist (named acpeters, you can find him at deviantArt) who kindly has made us designs for the characters, especially original ones, now he has the guide for John if he decides to add him to the list.
> 
> So, I guess the notes end here. We’ll be posting the second part to conclude this gaiden in a few days, so stay tuned. Thanks for the support, stay safe out there, and until next time.


End file.
